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California Wildfires Linked To Suicide And Harms From PM10

California Wildfires Linked To Suicide And Harms From PM10

Aug 06 2025 | comment(s)

California has an environmental problem. The state is overwhelmingly desert and rain is scarce for 10 months out of the year. Water instead arrives from the mountains. Yet the state legislature and government are allied with environmentalists. They want dams torn down, which means water from the mountains that melts in the spring and summer can't be gathered. Not only do environmentalists now hate dams, their political supermajority has even stalled the water infrastructure improvements voters demanded over 10 years ago, using endless government panel reviews.
El Niño May Cause Spider Declines

El Niño May Cause Spider Declines

Aug 06 2025 | comment(s)

The El Niño climate phenomenon is consistently inconsistent, which plays havoc with computer models hoping to anticipate the effects of increased emissions from large polluting countries like China.

It may even be causing periodic booms and busts in spiders and overall insects.
The Mysterious Humans Near ‘Hobbit’s Island'

The Mysterious Humans Near ‘Hobbit’s Island'

Aug 06 2025 | comment(s)

Over 1 million years ago, early hominims made a treacherous deep sea crossing to reach the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and in a modern corn field local people discovered what looked like stone tools in the sedimentary layers and called in archaeologists.

What they found in the Early Pleistocene site of Calio reset the date for colonization of the island; seven stone artifacts. Because this was near a river channel, the researchers believe this would have been the hub for hominin tool-making and other activities such as hunting.
Methanetetrol: We're In A 'Super Alcohol' Timeline Now

Methanetetrol: We're In A 'Super Alcohol' Timeline Now

Jul 31 2025 | comment(s)

Methanetetrol, the only alcohol which has four hydroxyl groups (OH) at a single carbon atom, is out of this world.

Scientists meant that literally, it had been only theorized because it cannot occur naturally in Earth's everyday conditions but in extreme conditions of space it was assumed to exist. Now after a century of hypothetical existence, ultra-cold temperatures, near-perfect vacuum and high-energy radiation to simulate the environment inside interstellar clouds have combined to make it real.

The scientists from institutions in Russia, communist China, Hawaii, and Mississippi, believe their work could reshape our understanding of chemistry in the universe and shed light on the complex reactions happening in deep space.
Extrasensorial Plot Premonition

Extrasensorial Plot Premonition

Jul 31 2025 | comment(s)

In the previous article here, I tangentially examined a situation that arises often in collaborative data analysis: the digestion of the results in scientific graphs. The focus of that discussion was the building of a sceptical thinking attitude in my student - it is a really important asset in experimental science.
Chronic Lyme Disease And Fibromyalgia: New Meta-Analysis Suggests Doctors Are Gaslighting Patients

Chronic Lyme Disease And Fibromyalgia: New Meta-Analysis Suggests Doctors Are Gaslighting Patients

Jul 29 2025 | comment(s)

A recent meta-analysis of 151 studies included 11,307 instances of some conditions physicians and scientists dismiss and critics of medicine deem it medical "gaslighting." Joining them are alternative medicine proponents, like Folk Traditional Alternative Complementary Integrative physician Jacob Teitelbaum, MD. As with Drs. Oz and Mark Hyman, he went to medical school only to declare that supernatural forces have been in play all along, forces that only herbs and supplements can help.
To Go Where None Have Gone Before

To Go Where None Have Gone Before

Jul 28 2025 | comment(s)

Suppose we, meaning the human race, survive climate change, pandemics, and nuclear proliferation. What then? I’m talking about the long run.

We’ve got a faction who think the Earth would have been better off had we not survived – as if the rest of the ecosystem wouldn’t suffer from the radioactivity or the infections that killed us off.

Dust Is Changing The Microbiome Of California Mice, Warn Academics

Dust Is Changing The Microbiome Of California Mice, Warn Academics

Jul 26 2025 | comment(s)

A new paper from a California university warns that dust is changing the microbiome of mice.

Because it is just in mice, and mice are not little people, this is only EXPLORATORY, but so are claims about vaccines, GMOs, and corn syrup and because scientists didn't stand up to those when epidemiology papers claimed their correlation was really causation, it might be worth nipping this in the rodent before the Los Angeles Times prints it as human fact.
Seventh Generation Crisis: 'Green' Products For Women Under Fire By PFAS Activists

Seventh Generation Crisis: 'Green' Products For Women Under Fire By PFAS Activists

Jul 25 2025 | comment(s)

'Green' chemical products have generally gotten a pass from the environmental community but with one of their own, former Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, now in charge of a gigantic government health agency and going after the modern world, the lawsuit money is too good to pass up. So-called eco-friendly chemical products have come under fire.
Reference Letters

Reference Letters

Jul 24 2025 | comment(s)

Lately I have been writing lots of reference letters for students who are applying to Ph.D. positions in Physics, and in so doing I have found myself pondering on the dubious usefulness of that exercise. So let me share a bit of my thoughts on the matter here.

Reference letters are meant to be an important input for academic selections, because they provide first-hand information on the previous experience of the candidates, from scholars who are supposed to be authoritative enough to be trusted, and unconcerned enough to provide a unbiased assessment.